The Korean-American actor was “the MILF guy” in the original American Pie in 1999, elevating a naughty sexual term (Google it) and walk-on part into a memorable recurring character for the comedy franchise.

“People used to just shout that at me for years, shout it at the top of their lungs,” Cho recalls with a grimace this week during a Toronto visit.

“But I’m very happy to be associated with that movie. Especially the first one: American Pie had such freshness to it. Oddly enough, for all the sex that was in it, it seemed strangely innocent.”

Then came Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, the 2004 buddy comedy in which he played uptight stoner Harold to Kal Penn’s freewheeling stoner Kumar. That started another comedy franchise and brought new shouts of “Hey, Harold!” from passersby.

And of course there’s Star Trek, now two films into the franchise with Star Trek Into Darknessset to boldly go to theatres galaxywide on May 17. Cho plays Enterprise helmsman Hikaru Sulu in the prequel reboot series, the promotion of which has brought him to Toronto. (His introduction at a Monday night screening of Into Darkness included reference to him as “the MILF guy.”)

This makes three hit franchises that Cho has been active in so far, and he’s just entered his 40s. He’s also busy with TV series, most notably the sci-fi drama FlashForward and the recent sitcom Go On, and his early career in the 1990s included much stage work, as a member of East West Players, an Asian-American theatre company in L.A.

If this isn’t enough for one resumé, Cho is also lead singer for a rock band called Viva La Union. He does this in his supposed spare time, when he’s not busy looking after the two young kids, a son and a daughter, that he and his wife have at home.

So far, so impressive, but the soft-spoken Cho isn’t one to shine his rising star. I point out to him that his name appears first in the credits for Star Trek Into Darkness, since he’s first in the alphabetical listing. He shrugs.

“Yeah, I guess that’s in keeping with the ethos of (Star Trek creator) Gene Rodenberry, which was to do it that way and not to rank people. And that’s how (reboot director/producer) J.J. Abrams wants to keep it.

“Careers have exploded, but we’re all back as a team, and no actor is bigger than J.J. He is the captain for all intents and purposes. I don't think anyone feels particularly more important than the other. It just doesn't feel that way.”

There actually is a moment in Into Darkness where it seems that Cho’s Sulu might be getting a swelled head. Adventure beckons and duty calls upon Chris Pine’s Capt. Kirk, obliging Sulu to fill in for him for a spell.

Sulu rises to the occasion and a joke is made that he’s getting too comfortable in the captain’s chair. In reality, Cho was struggling to dampen down his excitement about sitting in the top seat on the bridge of the starship Enterprise, a geek’s fantasy come true. He’s been a Star Trek fan since The Next Generation series of the 1980s.

“I tried to avoid sitting in the captain’s chair until it happened, but it felt good. It's elevated. It's not the most comfortable chair in the world. It's really big and it's kind of hard, but it feels amazing.

“You really have to stop going outside and looking at yourself in the chair because it feels cool. You have to contain yourself and be in the moment. It was special.”

Cho just isn’t one to shout about his achievements. Maybe it’s because there are so many people in the street who are doing it for him.

He admits to feeling like something of an imposter when he was chosen to play Sulu for the first of the Star Trek reboot prequel pictures in 2009. Sulu was originally written and played as a Japanese character, but Abrams saw no problem in putting a Korean actor into the role. It’s all acting, right?

Cho didn’t quite see it that way. He felt he needed the support of the original Sulu, George Takei, whom Cho had met through their mutual participation with the East West Players.

“I asked to meet with him when I got the role of Sulu. He agreed and we had lunch and it was actually a big relief. I was so nervous. He’s Japanese-American and I'm Korean-American and I wasn't sure whether people would be picky about it, whether that was going to be a big deal. I wanted to know how to navigate that if that became an issue.

“He said, ‘You know, Gene Rodenberry didn't care about that. He wanted every continent to be represented on the bridge of the Enterprise. And ‘Sulu’ comes from the name of a sea that touches many shores of several Asian countries. Sulu is a Pan-Asian idea, so don’t get caught up in the lines of a map.’ I really appreciated his guidance.”

Cho is happy to continue playing Sulu as long as he can. Star Trek is more than just a TV and movie series to him, as it to the many fans who have beamed aboard the Enterprise since it all began in 1966. He started learning martial arts for the Sulu role, something he’d been avoiding since he switched careers from English teacher to actor. He’s always been wary of typecasting.

Cho is excited about Into Darkness because it moves the cast and story past the nuts-and-bolts origins of the 2009 prequel launch. Now they’re really boldly going forward, with Benedict Cumberbatch (the BBC’s new Sherlock Holmes) playing a more than worthy super villain.

“You know, I feel like this movie maybe gets closer to having a message than the last one we made. I certainly think it has a mission, and the mission is about peace and knowledge. J.J. is exploring the idea of good and evil in a very interesting way, challenging us to rethink our assumptions and presumptions about other cultures. It does have a message, although he’s not hitting you over the head with it.”

Are people yelling “Sulu!” at him yet? He still mainly gets “Harold” and “MILF guy!” but then Star Trek fans are a breed apart.

“What’s impressed me about Star Trek fans is how many generations they span and how many nations they represent. They are all over the place. I had a stereotype in my mind of what a Star Trek fans is, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.”

How about George Takei? Is he happy to have Cho continue playing Sulu? For once, Cho lets his pride show.

“He’s been very complimentary. I think if anything he always wants to see more of Sulu. We have that in common, hah-hah!”

Follow on Twitter: @peterhowellfilm

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